With the economy the way it is, a lot of consumers have become financially savvy and frugal and when it’s time for them to make a small or big purchase, more than likely they’re comparing searches using comparison search engines like Google Product, Nextag.com, Shopping.com, Shopzilla, Bizrate, Pricegrabber.com. There are also an ever increasing number of small startup companies that are trying to build better shopping engines in order to gain a foothold in this lucrative and expanding market.
A comparison search engine is a search engine developed to compare products and or services. It allows sellers to list their product and post necessary information such as title, description, category, image, and shipping sizes. Usually, when a consumer uses a comparison shopping engine, what he or she really wants is one of two things: a) To find the lowest possible price on a specific product (from a reputable merchant) and b) to find information and reviews about a certain range of products in order to make a selection.
Merchants and business can get their products listed on various comparison search engines using what’s called a Product Feeds. A product feed is usually created by using Excel templates or a dynamically generated spreadsheet depending on the number of products the seller has.
There is a new generation of comparison search engines that are moving beyond providing simple price comparisons- beyond the “Get shoppers in and out as quickly as possible and run with your cut” mentality. These new comparison search engines are now engaging shoppers by providing a better search experience. Some of these second generation comparison search engines are Become, pronto, Shopwiki, Bing, Retrevo.
Some of the ways that these new comparison engines differ from the first generation engines is by providing a one-stop shop complete with user reviews, expert reviews and videos. They also provide community features on comparison shopping empowering users to rate and review products. Beyond that they also provide the ability for users to search for coupons and deals for the products that they are interested in.
Comparison search engines are always going to be around because they make comparing of prices for consumers very easy for products that they’re interested in. Comparison searches are free to use and they display the results in an intuitive format to enable consumers to quickly make a decision. Another benefit of employing comparison search engines to advertise your products is high amount of quality traffic simply because consumers are usually in the last stage of the purchase transaction – in other words they’re ready to pull the trigger. As comparison shopping engines are becoming more and more popular and are focusing on innovation, it is important for businesses to take advantage in using them to increase their sales.
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